Trash separator and beet piece saver



-April 13, 1943. J. w. BUTCHER 2,316,556

TRASH SEPARATOR AND BEET PIECE SAVER Filed 'Sept. 20, 1940 v INVENTQR J. ZZLBu taber- Patented Apr. 13, 1943 OFFICE TRASH SEPARATOR AND BEET PIECE SAVER Jay W. Butcher, Woodland, Calif.

Application September 20-, 1940, Serial No. 357,549

1 Claim.

This invention relates to the sugar beet industry, and particularly to the salvaging of beet pieces or fragments which in the-aggregate are of considerable sugar-containing value, but which with the present method of handling and preparing the beets for sugar extraction after harvesting, are mainly lost.

Such preparation includes separating the trash from the beets, and in so doing the trash and beet pieces or fragments, which are apt to be broken from the whole beets, are carried away together.

The principal object of my invention is to eliminate this waste of valuable material by the provision of a separating device to which the beets and trash are fed, and which effects the desired separation by making use of the natural resilient property of beets, which causes them to rebound from a relatively hard surface when dropped thereon, as against the dead or nonbounding nature of the trash.

A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensive device and yet one which will be exceedingly efiective for the purpose for which it is designed. Y

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claim.

The figure on the drawing is a sectional elevation of one form of separator.

The form of separator as here shown is used to salvage beet pieces from a washing tank, in which such pieces and the trash have been separated from the whole beets.

In this structure, an endless drag conveyor I3 extends upwardly from the washing tank l4, and draws the beet pieces and trash from said tank along an inclined platform l5 which terminates adjacent the upper end of the conveyor so that the material on the platform is all pushed over the end of the same by the movement of the conveyor. Such material then drops onto a plate I6 disposed a certain distance below the end of the platform and set at a predetermined horizontal angle; said plate being mounted for vertical and angular adjustment as shown at I! so as to take care of any varying conditions which may be encountered in operation.

The angle of setting of the plate is such that resilient beet pieces dropping onto the plate from the platform will rebound and be caught in a bin 18 below the plate; a carry-off conveyor 19 being associated with said bin if desired. The bin is spaced horizontally as well as vertically from the plate so that any dead or non-resilient trash contacting the platform may slide off the low end thereof in front of the bin.

In order however to positively insure against the possibility of any trash being thrown into the bin, or of any beet pieces falling in front of said bin, an A or inverted V shaped deflector 20 is mounted above the bin with its apex in a horizontal plane adjacent that of the low end of the plate I6 but spaced horizontally therefrom, and with one side of the deflector overhanging the bin and with the other side sloping away from the same. This deflector also is mounted for independent vertical and horizontal adjustment as indicated at 2|, to take care of different conditions which may be encountered.

Since the beet pieces as well as the trash are wet when they contact the plate It, the latter may be kept clear of possibly adhering trash by a water spray device 22 disposed to direct a flow of water down the plate.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I have produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A device to separate wet beet pieces from wet trash comprising an upwardly inclined conveyor, a washing tank in which the beet pieces and trash are intermingled, the lower end of the conveyor extending into the washing tank in pick-up relation to said intermingled beet pieces and trash, the conveyor discharging said intermingled beet pieces and trash from its upper end, a relatively hard surfaced element disposed at a predetermined angle below the upper and discharge end of said conveyor in position to be struck by said intermingled beet pieces and trash falling therefrom, a catch member spaced horizontally from and disposed in a plane below the element, whereby to catch beet pieces rebounded from said element, a nozzle positioned and operative to discharge water in flushing relation over said surface of the element, and a deflector plate mounted to deflect trash flushed from said surface of the element to a point clear of said catch member.

JAY W. BUTCHER. 

